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Marten & Claire - Claire wants Marten to be more proactive

11 (8.7%)

Faye & Bubbles - Is there anything more than friendship?

20 (15.9%)

Marten, Veronica and the Beans - Is Marten jealous of what a good stepmom she is to Sam?

8 (6.3%)

Faye, Bubbles & Sam - The further adventures of Union Robotics

20 (15.9%)

Dale and Marigold - A meditation on DLC and Micro-transactions

7 (5.6%)

Momo & May - We were teenage robots at large!

10 (7.9%)

Hannelore & Sven - The're clearly friends but what do they do together?

11 (8.7%)

Dora and Emily - A double-act making double-lattes!

6 (4.8%)

MOAR TILLY! - Let's see what they can do beyond their relationship with Hannelore!

6 (4.8%)

Brun, Elliott & Clinton - Lives collide at The Horrible Revelation

21 (16.7%)

Other (Please specify in your comment)

6 (4.8%)

Total Members Voted: 66

[Case]

P.S.: Can you say "Tilly'll be" three times in a row, quickly?

.
.
.
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P.P.S.: And what do you say to the people looking at you funny when you do? 

Is that a Beetlejuice kind of thing?

Can't rightfully say - never seen the movie. Is it?

[gopher]

Fuck no.

[BenRG]

The possibility of Hannelore launching a coup attempt against her mother is far less likely as it would effectively be writing Hannelore out of the story.

Or it may be that I'm underestimating Jeph. There is no creative reason why he can't have the running joke of a multi-billionaire captain of industry with More Money and Power Than God who still works shifts at a small indie coffee shop because she likes it.


[EDIT]
If Jeph goes this way then you have the potential for various 'abuse of power' jokes with Hannelore and some others of the main cast visiting a place, getting poor service and, as they're leaving, Hannelore is putting away her 'phone and the demolition crews are already arriving.

[mercykills]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

Hannelore will have a hard time denying the usefulness of Tilly if she asks her to book the whole trip. Which makes the trip pointless...

Crap, it's a paradox!

Worse. It's a quagmire. See my earlier comments about this Tilly nonsense being a war. Once you in it? You in it.

Wasted time and resources be damned.

[Cornelius]

The possibility of Hannelore launching a coup attempt against her mother is far less likely as it would effectively be writing Hannelore out of the story.

Of course, there's still the possibility of her moving everyone into that mansion she's dreamt of.

[Bad Superman]

This whole Tilly arc is an example of bad storytelling.

No, seriously, go back to strip #3606, where Hannelore has her first Tilly-based conversation with her mother. Then skip ahead to today’s strip #3635, to the second phone call. The second call should have been the first one!

Everything that happened between 3606 and 3635 was useless filler. It didn’t help moving the plot along one bit! And don’t tell me "It’s for character development." or "It’s for getting to know Tilly." No. Character development happens during plot, not apart from it. And also, we didn’t really learn anything important we didn’t already know after the first two or three strips involving Tilly, now did we?

Love Tilly or hate them, but stuff like that makes me angry.

[Tova]

Pffft.

[TinPenguin]

Well, looks like we're not clear of The Abominable Yesman yet, but finally, plot! Character development! And a whole six panels without Tilly!

[A Duck]

Huh, turns out Tilly's father was a Chekov's gun(man) after all.

The whole "corporate espionage" thing might have been more than a dad joke.

And Hannelore is about to assert herself. Take cover, everyone.

[Cornelius]

The whole "corporate espionage" thing might have been more than a dad joke.

Could be, though it really depends on what kind of deal it is. I've seen some businesses having been bought out, with the promise that their children would be managing the plant afterwards. Result; the production has moved, but they're still manager of an empty plant.

[Case]

Pffft.

Please tell me it's not some weird alternative 1992 where Wesley Crusher is now called Tilly ...

[traroth]

P.S.: Can you say "Tilly'll be" three times in a row, quickly?

.
.
.
.

P.P.S.: And what do you say to the people looking at you funny when you do? 

Is that a Beetlejuice kind of thing?

Can't rightfully say - never seen the movie. Is it?

It depends if Tilly appears magically when you say three times their name, or not. Possibly, Hanners doesn't need to say it three times for them to materialize. One may be more than enough... 

[dutchrvl]

This whole Tilly arc is an example of bad storytelling.

No, seriously, go back to strip #3606, where Hannelore has her first Tilly-based conversation with her mother. Then skip ahead to today’s strip #3635, to the second phone call. The second call should have been the first one!

Everything that happened between 3606 and 3635 was useless filler. It didn’t help moving the plot along one bit! And don’t tell me "It’s for character development." or "It’s for getting to know Tilly." No. Character development happens during plot, not apart from it. And also, we didn’t really learn anything important we didn’t already know after the first two or three strips involving Tilly, now did we?

Love Tilly or hate them, but stuff like that makes me angry.

Since we have no idea yet how the story is going to unfold, it is a bit too early too conclude that this is bad storytelling, don't you think? For instance, we currently have no idea whether the 'filler' comics as you call them revealed stuff that comes into play later on.

[Case]

Everything that happened between 3606 and 3635 was useless filler. It didn’t help moving the plot along one bit! And don’t tell me "It’s for character development." or "It’s for getting to know Tilly." No. Character development happens during plot, not apart from it. And also, we didn’t really learn anything important we didn’t already know after the first two or three strips involving Tilly, now did we?

It's for character development - Hanners', for example.

This whole Tilly arc is an example of bad storytelling.
...
Love Tilly or hate them, but stuff like that makes me angry.

Duly noted ...

[Shjade]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

Of course she COULD do that. But since she'd be speaking to her mother ABOUT Tilly, it seems a little rude to do so without them.

[TinPenguin]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

I'd happily never see Tilly again and have this be a simple Hannelore vs. Beatrice confrontation. However, Hannelore is a much nicer person than me. This involves Tilly, and so she is keeping Tilly involved. They are both being manipulated by their respective (ha!) parents and both deserve to respond to that. My chief fear is that this arc concludes in the pair of them telling said parents to piss off and stop using them as pawns in their petty power plays, and then high-fiving into the sunset together.

[Bad Superman]

Everything that happened between 3606 and 3635 was useless filler. It didn’t help moving the plot along one bit! And don’t tell me "It’s for character development." or "It’s for getting to know Tilly." No. Character development happens during plot, not apart from it. And also, we didn’t really learn anything important we didn’t already know after the first two or three strips involving Tilly, now did we?

It's for character development - Hanners', for example.

Could you elaborate on that?
In what way did Hannelore make an important step of growth or change, that could not have been shown during a trip to and a confrontation with her mother?

[maneyan]

Geeez, people really have dug their trenches here. I personally was initially very anti-Tilly, but I've come to kindasorta like them. Yeah they are weird and too intense, but heck, that's what seems to have taught Hannelore about assertiveness and all in all.... I dunno, they're not that bad a person to me (I say that because if being too intense and failing to listen to what people say when you're overeager makes you a bad person I'd be Hitler by now). Sure, there are other storylines that we all want to see, but even disregarding Tilly, this is important for Hannelore.

[BenRG]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

Of course she COULD do that. But since she'd be speaking to her mother ABOUT Tilly, it seems a little rude to do so without them.

Whilst I agree with this post in principle, I don't think that the upcoming confrontation will be exclusively or even mostly about Tilly. It is more specifically going to be more about Beatrice's tendency to use people (even close family members) as insensate tools to support her own ambitions and whims and also about Hannelore's unwillingness to tolerate this in her life anymore.

Tilly's role is probably going to be as the package to be 'returned to sender' but something tells me that this is not going to be possible, likely for reasons of Tilly's own safety.

[Neko_Ali]

For me, Tilly dug the parallel trenches themselves. First it was the pushy salesperson personality that won't take no for an answer and plays on people's emotions to get what they want without any regards to what their target wants. That sort of person has earned my white hot hatred. Then as we got to know Tilly better we realized they aren't some slick sales person... They're just an over-eager clingy people pleaser who will do anything, say anything, be anything to get people to like them. While that doesn't generate in me the same hate that pushy sales people do, it's still not someone I want to be around for any length of time.

[pwhodges]

For me, Tilly dug the parallel trenches themselves.

It might not be that simple, as we don't yet know what pressure Tilly's dad put on them to cooperate.  In the worst instance, this could be the price for his accepting their non-binary identification.

[TheEvilDog]

Or he wants someone inside the Ellicot-Chatham organisation during negotiations.

Or he wants Tilly to get a great start in their career that he can't provide.

Or a dozen other reasons. But without context, all we have is supposition. At the same time, all we know is that Tilly was given a dossier on Hanners and told to not take no for an answer. And so Tilly got their foot in the door and forced themselves into Hanners' life. However we might cut it, Tilly's introduction has left something of a bitter taste in peoples' mouths. People aren't going to remember the circumstances, only the actions. Which is par for the course on the forum, really.

[shanejayell]

FUUUUUUUUCK.

Seriously. Can I set the forum to message me when the Tilly arc is over? 

[Gyrre]

Firstly, I want to blow my own trumpet a bit ...

(click to show/hide)

The things you make me look up, Ben ...

The alternative is 'tooting his/her/their/one's own horn'.

[Case]

Everything that happened between 3606 and 3635 was useless filler. It didn’t help moving the plot along one bit! And don’t tell me "It’s for character development." or "It’s for getting to know Tilly." No. Character development happens during plot, not apart from it. And also, we didn’t really learn anything important we didn’t already know after the first two or three strips involving Tilly, now did we?

It's for character development - Hanners', for example.

Could you elaborate on that?
In what way did Hannelore make an important step of growth or change, that could not have been shown during a trip to and a confrontation with her mother when I move the goalposts like so?

Dunno man - Allosaurs?

[tustin2121]

Tilly? It's Hannelore. I need to book us some plane tickets.
We're going to see my mother tomorrow.

*dramatic sting!*

Alright, consider me invested in this now. *[grabs popcorn]*

[themacnut]

My chief fear is that this arc concludes in the pair of them telling said parents to piss off and stop using them as pawns in their petty power plays, and then high-fiving into the sunset together.

I wold not be surprised if the conclusion of this arc goes something like that. 'Cause one way or another, we're stuck with Tilly - Jeph has put too much work into this character to just drop them, especially due to some fan dislikes. It is his comic after all, and all we can do is decide whether or not we want to keep reading it.

[cesium133]

So, wait, the prestigious position for his child is to be a servant for her child? If that's the case, it sounds like Beatrice already has Tilly's father where she wants him.

[traroth]

Let's be a little snarky. What makes you believe this arc will end with some kind of closure? Given how that Faye-Bubbles thing was canned, and that other thing about Samantha being possibly the new star of Union Robotics was dumped, it's perfectly possible monday starts with Pintsize having diarrhea, and that being the core of the narration for the next 2 months! 

Prepare for a world of fart jokes!

[BenRG]

So, wait, the prestigious position for his child is to be a servant for her child? If that's the case, it sounds like Beatrice already has Tilly's father where she wants him.

Just think of the number of world leaders worked their way to the top through the party machine. This involved starting as little better than personal servants for the current power-brokers and then networking and back-stabbing their way to the very top. An ambitious father could think of a worse place for Tilly to be than at the shoulder of the Heir of Chatham, able to control to a certain extent everything that she knows and does through control of information flow and provision of distractions!

[TheEvilDog]

So, wait, the prestigious position for his child is to be a servant for her child? If that's the case, it sounds like Beatrice already has Tilly's father where she wants him.

There's an ancient practice known as fosterage, where the child of one person would be fostered for a time by another person. Now, it was different to the modern concept of fostering, in that it was about creating lifelong connections within the community and as a form of child-rearing and education. A close family friend would take on the child, teach them and help raise them for a time. In return, the child would look after the foster parent in their old age, as well as payment from the biological family.

I'm not saying Beatrice or Tilly's father are community minded, but the principle is the same. Its about creating links between one community and another. By having Tilly as a PA to Hanners, Tilly is getting an "in" with the Ellicot-Chatham Group, they're also gaining experience in business and making themselves noticed by Beatrice.

[jwhouk]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

I'd happily never see Tilly again and have this be a simple Hannelore vs. Beatrice confrontation. However, Hannelore is a much nicer person than me. This involves Tilly, and so she is keeping Tilly involved. They are both being manipulated by their respective (ha!) parents and both deserve to respond to that. My chief fear is that this arc concludes in the pair of them telling said parents to piss off and stop using them as pawns in their petty power plays, and then high-fiving into the sunset together.

...and what would be wrong with that?

[Bad Superman]

Everything that happened between 3606 and 3635 was useless filler. It didn’t help moving the plot along one bit! And don’t tell me "It’s for character development." or "It’s for getting to know Tilly." No. Character development happens during plot, not apart from it. And also, we didn’t really learn anything important we didn’t already know after the first two or three strips involving Tilly, now did we?

It's for character development - Hanners', for example.

Could you elaborate on that?
In what way did Hannelore make an important step of growth or change, that could not have been shown during a trip to and a confrontation with her mother when I move the goalposts like so?

Dunno man - Allosaurs?

Hm...
The first thing I said was, that 3606 to 3635 are a waste of space, more or less. Those strips did not drive any kind of interesting plot. We just see rather ordinary QC-stuff happening, characters randomly interacting with the newbie, and so on. Then I said 'character development' or 'getting to know Tilly' are excuses one could make, and pointed out why I find those excuses lacking. I literally wrote "character development happens during plot, not apart from it", so I did not even rule out that growth in some characters might have happened, did I? My point was, that any growth of character, or any knowledge gained by the reader, from 3606 to 3635, happened in a plot-vacuum, that could have been filled in many many more interesting/exiting/engaging ways.

It's the half of my question you crossed out (and accused me of moving the goalpost) that really is the important part.

So, I rephrase my question:
Let's suppose Hannelore and Tilly both went through some kind of development, or that we learned important stuff about them, between strip 3606 and 3635. Let's just take that as a given. Could this exact same development/growth/gain of knowledge not have been achieved in a more interesting/exiting/engaging way?


For example: What about a quick road trip to Beatrice, where we see Hannelore and Tilly (and Marten and Claire too, if you want) gradually warming up to each other? H and T have their problems and anxieties, those could have been good bridge for the two of them to build a connection. They have so much in common. Why not have two heirs of supposedly super-powerful corporation empires talk about the stuff they had to deal with in the past. Their parents, the seemingly crazy rules they had to adhere to... Or, why not have them deal with typical road-trippy-problems?

Instead, the opportunity was wasted with creepy stalker kid, who spends their time with not one, but two spider battles, a presentation dance, and a pun-off with Claire. Riveting stuff...

Tilly's introduction could have been handled so much better, they would have come across so much warmer. It's just sad.

[TinPenguin]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

I'd happily never see Tilly again and have this be a simple Hannelore vs. Beatrice confrontation. However, Hannelore is a much nicer person than me. This involves Tilly, and so she is keeping Tilly involved. They are both being manipulated by their respective (ha!) parents and both deserve to respond to that. My chief fear is that this arc concludes in the pair of them telling said parents to piss off and stop using them as pawns in their petty power plays, and then high-fiving into the sunset together.

...and what would be wrong with that?

I phrased it poorly. The first part is fine. Desirable, even. The second part is where emotional bonding causes Hannelore to keep Tilly around after all, which doesn't make the whole thing pointless in the slightest.

[snufflebottoms]

Because Tilly is a crappy character.

[TheBiscuit]

While I don't really enjoy Tilly's appearances in the comic, I'm definitely not ready to come out on the side of the torches-and-pitchforks faction. I won't be upset if they stick around, as long as they are not the subject of every QC strip, every single week.

I do think it is deliciously ironic that Hannelore is treating Tilly as an assistant specifically as a part of an attempt to not keep them on as an assistant.

[Case]

So, wait, the prestigious position for his child is to be a servant for her child? If that's the case, it sounds like Beatrice already has Tilly's father where she wants him.

There's an ancient practice known as fosterage, where the child of one person would be fostered for a time by another person. Now, it was different to the modern concept of fostering in that ...

[brasca]

Tilly’s Dad May have parenting instincts out of Game of Thrones or at the very least Shortpack’s Galasso. 

[Y]

Somehow, I was reminded to "The Devil Wears Prada".

[mercykills]

Because of COURSE Hannelore couldn't speak to her mother WITHOUT Tilly

Of course she COULD do that. But since she'd be speaking to her mother ABOUT Tilly, it seems a little rude to do so without them.

Or...Or, Hanners could have just TOLD Tilly what her mother told her, that their parents were using them both as pawns in negotiations, and said, "Hey, I'm not sure if you knew that or not but if you didn't, you should have a talk with your father(offscreen) 'cause I'm damn sure about to have a very lengthy, very LOUD conversation with my mother. You're still fired, either way." And then Hanners books her own ticket to go discuss things with her mother.

But hey, if we logically simplified things how would we EVER justify 4 more weeks of Tilly and weak, Claire-lite puns.

UGH!!!

So, everyone excited for Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Winter Solistice, and/or Boxing Day?

[Shjade]

Not sure in what way you think subdividing one conversation between a group of people into multiple, interconnected conversations between subgroups of that group of people that will all have consequences on one another later, some of which will not be immediately apparent to the participants of one conversation who are also affected by the outcomes of the other, is "logically simplified."

You're going pretty far out of your way to make things more complicated because you don't like Tilly. And, hey, you do you and all, but...that's not "logic" at work.

[Absimilliard]

Urgh... I hoped we'd get this confrontation, but without Tilly dragged along. I'll still hold out hope that this means they're about to be written out, I'm resenting their presence quite a lot now.

[mercykills]

Not sure in what way you think subdividing one conversation between a group of people into multiple, interconnected conversations between subgroups of that group of people that will all have consequences on one another later, some of which will not be immediately apparent to the participants of one conversation who are also affected by the outcomes of the other, is "logically simplified."

You're going pretty far out of your way to make things more complicated because you don't like Tilly. And, hey, you do you and all, but...that's not "logic" at work.

If Tilly didn't know and decides to confront their father about being used, why would that affect Hannelore? Hannelore already fired them. It MIGHT affect Beatrice but she's a tertiary character and Hanners doesn't have anything to do with her business. So, again, doesn't affect Hanners.

Now, Hanners going to confront her mother about interfering in her life for arbitrary reasons? A possibly good story, in and of itself, and I can admit that Tilly was the plot device to get us to this point but the question remains, why would they need to be there for it? What could they possibly add to a Hanners/Beatrice showdown?

So, yes, it is simpler to have Hanners tell Tilly, through a phone call, what her mother told her and move on to this Hannelore v. Beatrice arc. We don't need to see Tilly's reaction to it or them and their father talking about it because it doesn't affect Hannelore, since she pushed Tilly out of her life.

ETA: Tilly being a shit character, aside, this "hey, I need to go have a frank discussion with my mother about constantly interfering in my life and I'm bring you along for...reasons" nonsense is weak.

[Tova]

Geeez, people really have dug their trenches here.

Yep. A bad initial impression has been set in stone, it seems, and has affected people's reactions to every comic since. For example, Tilly asking Winslow if he opened Hanners' mail seemed to somehow get translated as "See, Tilly is terrible, they opened Hanners' mail." That can only happen when viewing the comic through an "I hate Tilly" filter.

I personally am finding this story reasonably interesting, regardless of whether I like Tilly or not. I mean, I haven't always liked Faye either, for example, but I've always enjoyed her storylines a great deal. The Tilly story is okay, as far as I am concerned, and I'm interested to see where this is headed, mainly from the point of view of personal development for Hanners and her relationship with her mother. Surely not everyone has completely missed this through the haze of Tilly hatred?

Regardless of whether you think the past comics have been "a pointless diversion," just remember that this is a slice of life comic. Pointless comedic diversions are what QC does.

So okay, I get that some people aren't enjoying the Tilly storyline at all. Maybe take a break from reading if you're hating it that much? Or, if you are going to keep reading, at least try to put aside your initial impressions. You also don't have to justify your dislike of Tilly to the hilt, or explain in great detail why it is that Jeph is a terrible story writer, just because you personally aren't enjoying it. And you certainly don't need to tell us "I hate Tilly," over and over and over and over again. We get it. It's made the forums an unpleasant place to be, quite frankly.

[snufflebottoms]

Plot twist: Tilly is Hannelore's sibling.

[Case]

Geeez, people really have dug their trenches here.

So okay, I get that some people aren't enjoying the Tilly storyline at all. Maybe take a break from reading if you're hating it that much? Or, if you are going to keep reading, at least try to put aside your initial impressions. You also don't have to justify your dislike of Tilly to the hilt, or explain in great detail why it is that Jeph is a terrible story writer, just because you personally aren't enjoying it. And you certainly don't need to tell us "I hate Tilly," over and over and over and over again. We get it. It's made the forums an unpleasant place to be, quite frankly.

How about a nice, refreshing change of topic? Like: "Does Marten have goals?"


What? No, those are my eyelashes ... Needles, pfft!

[Tova]

How about: what do we think Hanners is going to say to her mother?

[cesium133]

Hannelore: "You want a PA so badly, Tilly can be YOUR PA!"
Beatrice: "Don't be silly, dear. RoboHorse is already my personal assistant. You can't get away with beating a human like you can with a non-living horse."

 

[Case]

How about: what do we think Hanners is going to say to her mother?

I don't think it'll be words per se at first, more a 90-second, uninterrupted C^#7 of pure daughterly outrage as sign that "negotiations may instructions will now commence" ...

... that should serve nicely to focus everybody and put them in the right frame of mind.

[mercykills]

How about: what do we think Hanners is going to say to her mother?

First off, Tova, I just want to say, re: your last post, I get you and i agree with you. Maybe the Tilly discussion did get out of hand annnd maybe, MAYBE I had a teensy part in that. We don't need to over-analyze the character to death and we most certainly don't need to create an atmosphere where people feel exasperated just coming to and reading the forums.

So, agreed, let's change the subject for a while.

Now, as to your question. I'm REALLY hoping we see a side of Hanner's we haven't seen yet(super pissed) and she stands firm when telling her mother that, this constant meddling will not continue. Because I, truly, do not see Beatrice listening to someone asking nicely for her to knock off the crap. Hanners just won't get far with "please" and "thank you's".